The present invention generally relates to a cable management system for interconnecting electronics or fiber optic cables and more specifically to a cable management system having patch panels and wire managers arranged in a non-orthogonal geometry.
Numerous cable management systems exist today and are used in various electronics equipment applications, such as telecommunications, data transmission, networking, video and the like. Typically, to install a cable management system, a rack frame is securely mounted to the floor within the room in which the system is to be maintained. Multiple patch panels or boxes are then secured to the frame in a stacked arrangement. Each patch panel includes multiple connector ports (e.g. RJ45 connector ports) along the front face thereof. Each connector port is adapted to receive a plug on a mating cable that conveys a single data stream, such as for an individual user and the like.
Conventional patch panels are generally constructed with a rectangular or square horizontal cross sectional geometry or footprint. Each patch panel includes a planar front face. When the patch panels are mounted within the frame, the front faces align with one another in a vertical plane. The patch panels have a height in the vertical direction and a width in the lateral direction. The number of patch panels that are vertically stacked upon one another and the width of the individual patch panels determine the outer dimensions of a connectivity interface within which individual connector ports are retained and arranged in a desired pattern.
As information technology evolves and improves, the need increases for each patch panel system to support more and more individual users. As the number of users increases so does the need for more connector ports and cables which increases the overall physical size. To add capacity at the connectivity interface, the front face is expanded vertically by stacking additional patch panels upon one another. Alternatively or in addition, the connectivity interface is expanded laterally by increasing the width of each patch panel.
Cable management systems may also comprise, in addition to one or more stacked patch panels, one or more groups of wire managers arranged along one or both sides of the stack of patch panels. The wire managers, generally provided on opposite sides of the patch panels, have been constructed with a square or rectangular horizontal cross sectional geometry or footprint. Hence, the combined footprint (e.g. horizontal cross sectional geometry) of the combination of the wire managers and patch panels similarly is square or rectangular.
The wire managers heretofore have been constructed to afford access to the wires retained therein either through the front face of the wire manager or the outer sides of the wire managers. However, as the capacity of the cable management system increases, the number of individual cables similarly increases. As the number of cables increases, heretofore, wire managers have been widened laterally relative to the patch panels or constructed deeper (i.e. in the direction transverse to the front face of the patch panels).
However, cable management systems are reaching the size limits afforded by certain standards and/or by physical constraints of rooms and environments in which they are mounted. In addition, conventional wire managers have grown to such a size that cables in the back of the wire managers become inaccessible when behind a large number of other cables.
A need remains for an improved cable management system having a more space efficient geometry, overall, as well as within the wire managers.